Update On Atlanta Braves First Baseman Freddie Freeman, Does He Need Surgery?

Freddie Freeman Talks About Getting Offseason Wrist Surgery or Not

2015 was a season to forget for Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman as he had a frustrating year with injuries and dealing with a disappointing team record.

The 26-year-old is signed through the 2021 season with the Braves as he signed an 8 year/$135M deal back in 2014.  With the overhaul of the Braves roster and the amount of top stars being traded away, everyone has questioned whether Freeman will continue to wear Atlanta across his chest.

New General Manager of the Braves, John Copollella, has expressed he isn’t trading Freeman at any cost…but we have heard this story before with top talent.  Here is a pretty strong comment from Copollella about trading Freeman.

"I’d give my right arm before we trade Freddie Freeman. It is not happening."

Though I don’t think they’re trading Freeman, I do think they listened to some phone calls about him.  Freeman’s contract and wrist injury that bothered him in 2015 could have caused other teams to walk in the opposite direction after what the Braves asked for in return.

Oh, that wrist injury…

June 13th – The initial wrist injury occurred (we believe) on a swing late in the game against the Mets.  Freeman continued to play through the pain until June 17th.  He was taken out of the game versus Boston and sat out until July 25th.

July 25th to August 3rd – Freeman was back on the field with the Braves, but that only lasted 10 games.

August 3rd – the wrist pain flared up again.  This time it was the wrist and an oblique strain.

August 19th – He returned to the starting lineup on  in San Diego.

Freeman played the rest of the season through the pain in his wrist, but then didn’t start the last four games of the season.

When Freeman didn’t play on June 18, 2015, it ended his consecutive games played streak of 234 games that he began on Sept. 24, 2013, the highest among active players.  This was the first time in three years where Freeman didn’t see the field at all during a game.

He missed a total of 44 games because of injury in 2015…the most in his young career.

2015-2016 offseason

Will Freeman have surgery on his right wrist or will time and treatment heal this nagging injury?

Initially, my opinion was have the surgery and get this taken care of.  Obviously, I’m not in the medical field and my opinion didn’t matter.  It sounds as though time and treatment may have cured the wrist injury.

Freeman recently told Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports that he doesn’t think he’ll need surgery!

"This past week was great for me. I’ve been working really hard to get my wrist healthy this offseason and I finally turned the corner. I’ve done every treatment possible and something finally worked. It has been the worst six months. I finally have a peace of mind that I don’t need surgery."

Has the holiday’s come early?  Possibly, because this is great news for Braves fans!  When Freeman is healthy, the Braves will be watchable in 2016.